Excalibur & Excelsior: Paul Logli, Children's Home + Aid win awards

Friday

Nov 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 30, 2012 at 6:30 PM

ROCKFORD — A former legal professional turned nonprofit leader and an agency that advocates for children and families were honored tonight during the Register Star’s annual Excalibur and Excelsior awards ceremony.

INSIDE: Winner profiles, finalists and award history

Melissa Westphal

WINNER PROFILES,
FINALISTS AND AWARD
HISTORY AT END OF STORY

ROCKFORD — A former legal professional turned nonprofit leader and an agency that advocates for children and families were honored tonight during the Register Star’s annual Excalibur and Excelsior awards ceremony.

Both Paul Logli, who received this year’s Excalibur award, and Children’s Home + Aid, which took home the Excelsior award, were previous nominees, but their strategies for winning were a bit different.

Eileen Liezert, regional vice president for Children’s Home + Aid Northern Region, joked that she didn’t draft an acceptance speech because she thought it could be a bad omen.

“Now I’m feeling very overwhelmed,” Liezert said as she accepted the award. “It’s just a real privilege to be able to be here accepting this award. With the other (finalists), I knew that there was really tough competition, and we’re so pleased and honored to be in this position this evening.”

Logli, on the other hand, kept the crowd entertained with jokes about how he thought he had a better chance of winning the Powerball lottery game than the Excalibur award, which he’d been nominated for a total of five times. He told the crowd that no more Susan Lucci jokes were allowed.

“My family has started to call this evening Passover,” Logli joked. “I’ve been carrying around this acceptance speech since 1985. I will delete the references to our Mayor John McNamara, our Gov. James Thompson, but in the words of our president, ‘Like America, Rockford is a shining city upon a hill.’”

Logli, in all seriousness, said the award was “truly an honor, and I am humbled.”

“We have so many things going for us, and we have a lot of challenges,” Logli said of the Rockford community. “But there’s nothing, there is no challenge in this community that we can’t overcome just by working together. And nobody’s going to come riding to our rescue. It’s up to us.”

This is the 42nd anniversary of the Excalibur award and the 34th for the Excelsior award. Register Star Publisher Josh Trust reiterated the significance of the honors during the awards presentation at Giovanni’s Restaurant & Convention Center, 610 N. Bell School Road.

“This year has been full of change — all over the world and right here in our own country,” Trust said. “Because of these changes, the need is immense and the calling for those who give is stronger than ever. Those we honor here tonight are a shining example of what it means to give.”

Logli is well-known in the Rockford area after serving as Winnebago County state’s attorney and a circuit court judge.

He currently serves as president and CEO of the United Way of Rock River Valley.

Children’s Home + Aid Northern Region, founded in Rockford in 1939, provides adoption services, child and family counseling, early prevention in the community, foster care, intact family services and youth services. It also runs MotherHouse Crisis Nursery in Rockford.

Several attendees at Thursday’s event said they were happy to see the Excalibur/Excelsior awards still being distributed after so many years.

“We wanted to come and support and also congratulate those who have served this community well, especially the service projects, also fundraising for underserved projects, and we’re excited to be here,” said Herbert Johnson Jr., senior pastor at Rockford’s Liberty Baptist Church.

“The beauty of these awards is that it exemplifies all that is good about our community, from a spirit of caring to community involvement,” said Linda Niemiec, vice president of development for Crusader Community Health, which won the Excelsior award in 1985.

Melissa Westphal: 815-987-1341; mwestpha@rrstar.com; @mlwestphal

Profiles of the winners
Name: Paul Logli

Age: 63

City of residence: Rockford

Occupation: President/CEO, United Way of Rock River Valley

Education: Born in Rockford, attended parochial schools and Boylan High School; Bachelor of Arts, Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa; juris doctorate, University of Illinois College of Law.

Community involvement: Illinois Growth Enterprises board of directors; Blackhawk Area Council Boy Scouts of America Advisory Board; Rockford Health Council board of directors; Rockford Public Library board of trustees (chairman); Rockford Area Illini Club Board; Rockford Rotary Club member.

Name: Children’s Home + Aid

Address: 910 Second Ave., Rockford

Phone number: 815-962-1043

Website: childrenshomeandaid.org

Founded: The state organization was founded in 1883, and the Rockford group started in 1939.

President and chief executive officer: Nancy Ronquillo is the president and CEO of the statewide Children’s Home + Aid. Eileen Liezert is the regional vice president and the person who answered these questions on behalf of Children’s Home + Aid.

Regional board chairwoman: Cheryl Church

Number of staff: 103 in the organization’s northern region

Number of volunteers: Liezert said the organization is in the process of hiring a part-time volunteer coordinator because of growing needs. The group has several interns and at least 25 volunteers working at any given time.

Annual budget: $6.8 million

Biggest fundraiser: Jazz on The Rock, which typically occurs in June. It raised about $38,000 this year.

Mission: To provide help, hope and opportunity to children and families.

Services: Adoption, child and family counseling (adoption and guardianship preservation, early prevention in the community, pregnancy and early parent counseling), foster care, intact family services (extended family support), parent support (Healthy Families Illinois, MotherHouse Crisis Nursery) and youth services.

How many people do you serve: About 2,000

Accomplishments: Champion of Youth Award from the Blackhawk Area Boy Scout Council of America, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Adoption Excellence Award, United Way of Rock River Valley awards for in-house campaigns

About Excalibur
The Excalibur Award was established by the Rockford Register Star in 1971 to annually honor an individual whose outstanding community service and commitment have made the Rock River Valley a better place to live, work and raise families. The winner receives a crystal Steuben Eagle.

About Excelsior
The Excelsior Award was established by the Rockford Register Star in 1979 to honor an organization or institution whose work has a positive effect on life in the Rock River Valley. The winning organization receives a plaque and check for $500.